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After 17 seasons, Lowe hangs up spikes

After 17 seasons, Lowe hangs up spikes

10/20/04: Red Sox starter Derek Lowe throws six innings against the Yankees in Game 7, giving up one hit and one run

By Cash Kruth
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MLB.com |

Although Derek Lowe wouldn't use the word retirement, the 17-year Major League veteran told USA Today on Wednesday his baseball career is done.

"I'm officially no longer going to play the game," Lowe, 40, told the newspaper at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament. "It's still enjoyable, but the role I was having wasn't fulfilling."

Lowe, released by the Rangers in May, was 176-157 with 86 saves and a 4.03 ERA in a career spent with the Red Sox, Dodgers, Braves, Rangers, Indians, Yankees and Mariners. A two-time All-Star, Lowe thrived as both a starter and reliever.

The right-hander's first All-Star season came in 2000, when he saved 42 games for the Red Sox, while his other appearance in the Midsummer Classic came during a 2002 season in which he threw a no-hitter while finishing third in the American League Cy Young Award voting and in the top 20 of AL Most Valuable Player Award balloting.

Two years later, Lowe was an instrumental part of Boston's 2004 World Series championship squad that snapped the Sox's 86-year championship drought.

Lowe pitched in 17 games for the Yankees in 2012 and this season appeared in nine games with the Rangers before being released.

"I told my wife 10 days before I got released," Lowe told USA Today. "I said, 'We're not going to make it all year,' because they had to make numerous moves. I was basically the 12th guy.

"I was grateful for the opportunity that they gave me in Spring Training. But having been able to be a starter or a closer throughout your career, being the mop-up long relief guy, I just turned 40 -- let someone else try that. … There was no going to [Triple-A] Round Rock, put it that way."

Cash Kruth is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cashkruth. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.